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A Warning About Caribou Hunts In Northwest Territories

(posted April 09, 2010)

Hunters who booked a barren-ground caribou hunt in the Northwest Territories (NWT) for this season will likely not be able to hunt. The reason is that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR) plans to eliminate the quota for all hunting of the Bathurst caribou herd. This is the barren-ground caribou herd that is generally hunted by all outfitters in NWT.

We warned Hunting Report subscribers last December that hunting for barren-ground caribou in NWT would likely come to an end this year and that seems to be the case. NWT biologists have reported for several years now that the Bathurst caribou herd is declining and may crash if harvest pressure is not eliminated for a period. In January, the ENR implemented an emergency hunt closure on the traditional aboriginal winter hunt. That closure remains in effect and has been extended until the local aboriginal government's resources board submits recommendations for their subsistence harvests. Currently, there are no limits on such harvest.

Regardless of what the aboriginal harvest may be, a plan to shut down hunting by all non-aboriginal hunters is almost certain to be accepted and implemented. Under that plan, no outfitters will be able to conduct hunts. Already, one of the outfitters operating in this region has cancelled his 2010 season. John Andre of Courageous Lake Caribou Camps just informed 90 hunters that he would not be operating in NWT anymore due to the ENR's plans to shut down caribou hunting. Furthermore, Andre says he is unable to return deposits to those clients, whom he says had booked their hunts well before the ENR's intentions were known. Andre reports having invested 3 million dollars in his caribou camps.

Other outfitters are bound to cancel as well. If you have booked a hunt for barren-ground caribou in Northwest Territories, contact your operator immediately. Hunters who do not receive a refund for their cancelled trips may be eligible to receive one through a special fund operated by the NWT Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism. The person handling those requests is Kevin Todd (867-920-3230). When I spoke with Todd just yesterday, he told me it was not clear whether hunters affected by the closure would be eligible for a refund from the fund and that the matter was currently being assessed. He promised to have a definitive answer for me some time next week. I will have a more in-depth report in the May issue of The Hunting Report. Hunts for other varieties of caribou, such as mountain caribou, are not affected by this closure.

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